High Brown Fritillary on Dartmoor

Aish Tor on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon is one of the South West's strongholds for the nationally rare High Brown Fritillary. The population here appeared very healthy as on this hot sunny day we encountered well over forty butterflies, most in pristine condition. Several mating pairs were observed as well as females ovipositing in the undergrowth hopefully ensuring next years generation. Good numbers of their close relative the Dark Green Fritillary were also on the wing causing a little confusion at times but it seemed that the majority of identifiable views were of High Browns. Great news for the future of this beautiful and rare butterfly.

Red Admiral caterpillar makes it's protective tent

I discovered a Red Admiral caterpillar just starting to make it's protective tent by fastening two Nettle leaves together with silk. It's not often you actually see this process as it happens, so i decided to film the event. The speed of the film has been increased x4. The caterpillar took just ten minutes to complete the structure.......Incredible!

A trip to Oxford to see Black Hairstreaks.

Kate and I embarked on a four and a half hour drive to Oxfordshire is search of a butterfly that I have always wanted to see, the Black Hairstreak. On arrival at Bernwood Forest car park we met up with our friends Adam Hartley from Oxford and Paul Browning a fellow butterfly NUT from Helston who stopped off  while on his way home from another butterfly expedition in northern England.

Black Hairstreaks are one of Britain's rarest butterflies. Reportedly they declined by 98% last year, a very worrying statistic if it is to be believed. So if we were ever going to see them in Britain, now seemed to be the perfect time. The weather was perfect and several hairstreaks had been seen earlier in the week.

At the 'quiet and tranquil' M40 compensation area of bernwood forest, the population appeared to be holding it's own with well over 20 adults observed flying around the large areas of Blackthorn.. 'their larval food plant' situated just yards from the busy M40 motorway. We were fortunate to witness and film this female ovipositing hopefully ensuring a healthy population next year.

I must give a BIG THANK YOU to Adam who very kindly gave impeccable directions to the wood and then led us 'Kate. Paul Browning and myself' to the very difficult to find M40 compensation area where we were treated to fantastic views of these magical Hairstreaks........Great company...... Great butterflies what more could you want.......Happy Days!!!

Adam runs his own very interesting blog, which you can visit here http://oxfordbirder.blogspot.co.uk/

Aberrant Marsh Fritillary amidst the colony at Predannick

At Predannick Cliffs near Mullion on the Lizard, as well as Common Blues, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and several other butterfly species there is a small colony of the nationally threatened Marsh Fritillary. Very rarely aberrant individuals can be found within isolated colonies like this and Kate discovered one such butterfly, a female 'in cop' at this beautiful flora rich site. She features in the last sequence of this short film.......note the upper fore-wing's normal checkerspot pattern has been replaced by extensive striping. What a gorgeous insect!.................Well done Kate!

GRIZZLED SKIPPER Pyrgus malvae aberration taras

 Penhale sands near Perranporth on Cornwall's North coast is one of the last strongholds for this species in the county. The colony here also holds a high percentage of the rare aberration " taras" and what would appear to be intermediate forms these forms have more extensive white markings on the upper forewing giving it a quite striking appearance in comparison to the nominate form. This rare and very attractive aberration only occurres at a handful of sites in Britain so we are fortunate indeed to be able to find them here in our county.

Singing Wood Warbler

 Kate and I spent another day in Devon on Saturday, Holden Hill to see Pearl-bordered Fritillaries of which we saw well over twenty including an ovipositing female, also there were Dingy Skipper and plenty of Brimstones, Orange Tips, Green-veined Whites etc. The highlight of the day for me was this singing Wood Warbler at Yarner Wood. I have never managed to get any decent video of these little songsters before, this one was chasing off a rival and after successfully evicting it out of his territory decided to perch for a while just a few yards in front of us to have a preen and to sing as if in celebration of his victory. What a shame these gorgeous little Warblers don't breed here in Cornwall.

Drake Garganey. Helston Boating Lake.

 This afternoon Kate and I visited Helston to see a splendid drake Garganey that was found earlier today on the boating lake by our good friend Steve Rogers. Garganey breed throughout mainland Europe with a few pairs breeding in Britain. Here in Cornwall they are usually only seen on Spring and Autumn passage. They are usually timid ducks often found on vegetated lakes, It's not very often you get the chance to have really good views of them but this one had nowhere to hide on this small boating lake so was easy to see even though it spent most of the time out in the middle of the lake. Fortunately after spending nearly two hours hoping for some closer encounters it decided to come out on to the pool side where it had a brief preen before returning to the water. What an opportunity to see up-close this really beautiful duck! All thanks to Steve! Cheers mate!